Hello folks. Did you miss me?
It's been a busy few weeks- The Faceless has been taking up a great deal of my time, not that I begrudge it. Anyway, I finished the first draft a week or so back (11 minutes into Friday the 13th- how cool/apt/worrying is that?) But of course, that means the real work is just beginning, as the process of rewrites sets in... but I'll blog more about that soon.
In the meantime, two pieces of good news! Black Static have accepted my short story, 'Dermot'. Don't know yet which issue it'll appeared in, but I'll let you know. I'm still buzzing off the acceptance...
Also worthy of mention is that I now have a chapbook forthcoming from Simon Marshall-Jones' very fine venture Spectral Press: Cold Havens will contain two short stories of mine, 'Comfort Your Dead' and 'The Climb'. Release date, again, TBC. Rest assured you'll know when I do. Me, I'm looking forward to September, when the ever-reigning Cate's Nowhere Hall is released. Spectral are producing some fantastic quality work, both in terms of the fiction and its presentation, and all at very affordable prices. If you like your horror and your dark fiction, they're well worth a look.
Right, well, can't faff about on t'internet all morning. These novels won't rewrite themselves...
Monday, 23 May 2011
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Artemis 81
So, there's this film I watched a couple of weeks ago now...
David Rudkin is a playwright whose work I discovered at university and came to admire greatly. His first play, Afore Night Come, begins as a sort of rustic comedy but darkens steadily as the anxieties and frustrations of the characters- a group of agricultural workers in an orchard in the Black Country- rise to the surface and find a focus in one of the outsiders among their party, culminating in an act of ritual violence. The climax of the play- even on the page- is a powerful, dread-laden affair that stays long in the mind. Later plays like The Sons Of Light and The Triumph Of Death show him to be one of Britain's finest dramatists.
However, Rudkin has also produced an acclaimed body of work for the small and silver screens over the years. Among other projects, he adapted M.R. James' 'The Ash Tree' for the BBC. His play Penda's Fen is often cited as one of the best examples of the BBC's Play For Today series, not to mention a fine example of horror in the best sense. Sadly, I was only a month old when it came out, so it was past my bedtime and I missed it- and, thus far, it hasn't been brought out on DVD.
Artemis 81, on the other hand, has. So I eagerly snapped up a copy on DVD, to finally get to see Rudkin's work in performance...
Directed by Alastair Reid and running at about three hours, Artemis 81 is really like nothing I've seen before. I mean that in an entirely good way, incidentally. I'll try to give you some idea of what it's like.
Gideon Harlax (Hywel Bennett) is a commercially successful but emotionally detached writer of supernatural fiction. He finds material in a spate of mysterious suicides afflicting passengers who travelled on a particular North Sea ferry. Meanwhile, on an alien world with two moons, two 'angels'- Helith (Sting) and Asreal (Roland Curram) prepare to go down upon the Earth- Helith to prevent its destruction, Asrealare to precipitate it.
Also travelling on the ill-fated ferry are Gwen Meredith (Dinah Stabb), the woman who loves Gideon, even though he's unable to fully connect with her, and the organist Albrecht von Drachenfels (Daniel O'Herlihy.) Through a series of cryptic clues, von Drachenfels reveals to Gideon that he is being forced to play an unwilling part in Asrael's plans, which could lead to the destruction of the entire world. Gideon is the only person who can prevent its fruition, but to do so he has to come alive emotionally; he has already been warned he's 'dead inside'.
And then an explosion knocks Gideon out and sends him, accompanied by Helith, on an odyssey through a decaying, nightmarish city that may be a city of the dead, and into an underground complex where... but no. I don't want to spoil this for viewers, and what I've mentioned so far is just scratching the surface.
Is this a perfect film? Not quite; there are speeches in it that clang somewhat; you could get away with them in a more stylised setting, but in what's framed as a realistic scene they verge on the cod-poetic. There's a clumsy and unnecessary aside near the end where Gideon addresses us directly, which no-one's done previously in the entire film- but this is brief, and if there are lapses into the pretentious, then the overall achievement of the film more than compensates for them.
The performances are all round superb; this might be the best performance I've seen from Hywel Bennett, Sting is excellent in an almost 'man who fell to earth' type role, Curram is a truly chilling angel of death, and in his earthbound guise appears to be channelling Lugosi's Dracula. Daniel O'Herlihy gives a frankly magisterial performance as von Drachenfels- tormented, dignified, compassionate, a hugely gifted man trapped in an intolerable situation and trying to find an honourable way out of it. Throw this into a storyline that mixes the mythic and the science-fictional, not to mention a visually brilliant and deeply moving homage to Hitchcock's Vertigo, and you have Artemis 81; at times frustrating, but never less than intriguing, fiercely intelligent, and ultimately satisfying.
I'd certainly recommend this to anyone who likes their horror intelligent and who's not afraid of a challenge. Like all the best horror- like all the best genre material- it has genuine weight and heft as art. If you like the sound of it, you can buy it here.
David Rudkin is a playwright whose work I discovered at university and came to admire greatly. His first play, Afore Night Come, begins as a sort of rustic comedy but darkens steadily as the anxieties and frustrations of the characters- a group of agricultural workers in an orchard in the Black Country- rise to the surface and find a focus in one of the outsiders among their party, culminating in an act of ritual violence. The climax of the play- even on the page- is a powerful, dread-laden affair that stays long in the mind. Later plays like The Sons Of Light and The Triumph Of Death show him to be one of Britain's finest dramatists.
However, Rudkin has also produced an acclaimed body of work for the small and silver screens over the years. Among other projects, he adapted M.R. James' 'The Ash Tree' for the BBC. His play Penda's Fen is often cited as one of the best examples of the BBC's Play For Today series, not to mention a fine example of horror in the best sense. Sadly, I was only a month old when it came out, so it was past my bedtime and I missed it- and, thus far, it hasn't been brought out on DVD.
Artemis 81, on the other hand, has. So I eagerly snapped up a copy on DVD, to finally get to see Rudkin's work in performance...
Directed by Alastair Reid and running at about three hours, Artemis 81 is really like nothing I've seen before. I mean that in an entirely good way, incidentally. I'll try to give you some idea of what it's like.
Gideon Harlax (Hywel Bennett) is a commercially successful but emotionally detached writer of supernatural fiction. He finds material in a spate of mysterious suicides afflicting passengers who travelled on a particular North Sea ferry. Meanwhile, on an alien world with two moons, two 'angels'- Helith (Sting) and Asreal (Roland Curram) prepare to go down upon the Earth- Helith to prevent its destruction, Asrealare to precipitate it.
Also travelling on the ill-fated ferry are Gwen Meredith (Dinah Stabb), the woman who loves Gideon, even though he's unable to fully connect with her, and the organist Albrecht von Drachenfels (Daniel O'Herlihy.) Through a series of cryptic clues, von Drachenfels reveals to Gideon that he is being forced to play an unwilling part in Asrael's plans, which could lead to the destruction of the entire world. Gideon is the only person who can prevent its fruition, but to do so he has to come alive emotionally; he has already been warned he's 'dead inside'.
And then an explosion knocks Gideon out and sends him, accompanied by Helith, on an odyssey through a decaying, nightmarish city that may be a city of the dead, and into an underground complex where... but no. I don't want to spoil this for viewers, and what I've mentioned so far is just scratching the surface.
Is this a perfect film? Not quite; there are speeches in it that clang somewhat; you could get away with them in a more stylised setting, but in what's framed as a realistic scene they verge on the cod-poetic. There's a clumsy and unnecessary aside near the end where Gideon addresses us directly, which no-one's done previously in the entire film- but this is brief, and if there are lapses into the pretentious, then the overall achievement of the film more than compensates for them.
The performances are all round superb; this might be the best performance I've seen from Hywel Bennett, Sting is excellent in an almost 'man who fell to earth' type role, Curram is a truly chilling angel of death, and in his earthbound guise appears to be channelling Lugosi's Dracula. Daniel O'Herlihy gives a frankly magisterial performance as von Drachenfels- tormented, dignified, compassionate, a hugely gifted man trapped in an intolerable situation and trying to find an honourable way out of it. Throw this into a storyline that mixes the mythic and the science-fictional, not to mention a visually brilliant and deeply moving homage to Hitchcock's Vertigo, and you have Artemis 81; at times frustrating, but never less than intriguing, fiercely intelligent, and ultimately satisfying.
I'd certainly recommend this to anyone who likes their horror intelligent and who's not afraid of a challenge. Like all the best horror- like all the best genre material- it has genuine weight and heft as art. If you like the sound of it, you can buy it here.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Claude Choules, 1901-2011
Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of the First World War, has died at the age of 110.
And so ends an era; World War One, at least as far as its battles are concerned, has now passed out of living memory.
R.I.P Claude, and all the other men who suffered through that ugly, pointless war. The ones who came back, and the ones who didn't.
RI.P.
And so ends an era; World War One, at least as far as its battles are concerned, has now passed out of living memory.
R.I.P Claude, and all the other men who suffered through that ugly, pointless war. The ones who came back, and the ones who didn't.
RI.P.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Happy Easter Monday, Folks
Have chocolate, play in the sunshine, spend time with the people you care about, and be happy.
You've got to enjoy it while it's still there to be enjoyed.
Just saying.
You've got to enjoy it while it's still there to be enjoyed.
Just saying.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Elisabeth Sladen RIP
Truly saddened today to learn that the actress Elisabeth Sladen, who played the character of Sarah Jane Smith in Dr Who (and the more recent spin-off, The Sarah-Jane Adventures) passed away today, at the age of 63. I never met her, but she's described by all accounts as a genuinely nice and gracious lady. Rest In Peace, Elisabeth, and condolences to your loved ones.
Saturday, 16 April 2011
Arr, Jim Lad!!
Here's that extract from Dark Smile's live show, Pirate Radio, that I told you about. Mercifully out of focus, but hopefully funny nonetheless. I'm the bulbous figure with the bald patch and the kazoo, sited, aptly enough, on the far left. If you listen, you'll even hear the cameraman call someone an 'arsehole' under his breath for walking through the shot.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Friday, 15 April 2011
News, Kazoos and Interviews
Hello. Back again. I'm being interviewed quite soon, I'll let you know when sand where. The main reason I mention this is because 'interview' rhymes with 'kazoo', and tonight I will be playing the kazoo before a live audience.
Basically, as some of you folks may have noticed, I work with a company called Dark Smile Productions. I'm one of the Board and as well as writing numerous scripts for it, I've also acted (or overacted) in various shows and directed a few. Tonight, I'm doing all three, and playing kazoo into the bargain.
We started out recording what were, effectively, radio plays, although usually without a radio station to broadcast them on. We've tried flogging them on CD, but with very little success- put simply, unless you've got an existing franchise like Dr Who or Blake's 7, there isn't that much of an audience, and it's very hard to find one.
So, we started to change our approach, producing animations and working on material for a live show (think the Goons with more knob jokes.) The live show is called Pirate Radio, co-written by me and Richard Delafield, and tonight we'll be performing a ten-minute extract at Studio Salford, The King's Arms, Bloom Street, Salford, as part of their Embryo showcase. It starts at 8pm, and I believe we're on around 8.30.
Probably left it too late for anyone to do anything about this, but if you are in the Manchester area and have nothing better to do, they do great real ale and some decent single malt whisky. Oh, and did I mention that I'm playing the kazoo?
The plan is to video tonight's performance, so hopefully I'll be able to post it here soon. All the best, anyway!
Here's our latest animation, by the way... and make sure you watch till the end!
Basically, as some of you folks may have noticed, I work with a company called Dark Smile Productions. I'm one of the Board and as well as writing numerous scripts for it, I've also acted (or overacted) in various shows and directed a few. Tonight, I'm doing all three, and playing kazoo into the bargain.
We started out recording what were, effectively, radio plays, although usually without a radio station to broadcast them on. We've tried flogging them on CD, but with very little success- put simply, unless you've got an existing franchise like Dr Who or Blake's 7, there isn't that much of an audience, and it's very hard to find one.
So, we started to change our approach, producing animations and working on material for a live show (think the Goons with more knob jokes.) The live show is called Pirate Radio, co-written by me and Richard Delafield, and tonight we'll be performing a ten-minute extract at Studio Salford, The King's Arms, Bloom Street, Salford, as part of their Embryo showcase. It starts at 8pm, and I believe we're on around 8.30.
Probably left it too late for anyone to do anything about this, but if you are in the Manchester area and have nothing better to do, they do great real ale and some decent single malt whisky. Oh, and did I mention that I'm playing the kazoo?
The plan is to video tonight's performance, so hopefully I'll be able to post it here soon. All the best, anyway!
Here's our latest animation, by the way... and make sure you watch till the end!
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